City Of Sound
A Rough Guide To Gradings

This is how the new grading system works.

A song is awarded points on a scale of 0 to 3, where 0 is considered to be crap, 1 average, 2 good and 3 classic. We add up the total and then divide it by the total points available - for ten songs that will be 30 (3x10), 11 songs 33, and so on. This figure is then multiplied by 100 to achieve the magical % rating.

Of course it is not an exact science and the rating is still very much a matter of opinion. Anything between 60-70% has to be considered a strong effort while you won't come across much above that very often.

100 - 91 Classic 50 - 41 Patchy
90 - 81 Essential 40 - 31 Below Average
80 - 71 Brilliant 30 - 21 Bad
70 - 61 Very Good 20 - 11 Very Bad
60 - 51 Good 10 - 00 Delete

June '98

Let's Go Do What Happens

Francis DunneryFRANCIS DUNNERY
LET'S GO DO WHAT HAPPENS
RAZOR & TIE 82834-2
78%

With his fourth studio album since the sad demise of It Bites Francis Dunnery continues to surprise and delight. With simpler songs and less emphasis on technique he has focused his energies on writing great melodies, filled with his incisive lyrics. On "Let's Go Do What Happens" he has actually made something of a slight return to the progressive spirit of It Bites. The music has more going on arrangement wise, but certainly doesn't slip into self-indulgence and it's not obviously "proggy". Rocky moments are a regular occurrence and little traits that leave an It Bites taste are always around the corner, "Jonah" is a simple acoustic based piece (with atmospheric mellotron) that sounds like a cross between his "Tall Blonde Helicopter" album and the classic "Once Around The World". "Riding On The Back", with its horns and flute and swinging groove makes you think of early Jethro Tull, but the melody is superb and it's full of little bits that grab your attention and is as contemporary as you could want. Dunnery's acoustic album "One Night In Sauchiehall Street" captured what a compelling live performer he is and the acoustic moments here are no different. "My Own Reality" is a brilliant opener with its mellotrons and groove bringing to mind an updated It Bites or even "Jack Won't Let You Go" from his first album. "Sunflowers" is even better with its irresistible hook showing what a talented songwriter Dunnery is. The bass line is magnificent, driving the song along, it shows Dunnery comfortable in the late 90s with bags of energy and steals the top song honours. With "Let's Go Do What Happens" Dunnery has taken his recent style, shaken it about and come up with a contemporary record on his own terms. Undoubtedly one of the albums of the year.

Acoustic Universe

CHALLENGE
ACOUSTIC UNIVERSE
SPLASH 00-112
36%

Challenge have opted to ditch electric guitars from their band set up in favour of acoustic guitars (the rest of the band keeping plugged in), making for a straightahead melodic rock album with no electric guitars - but not an acoustic rock album. To be honest that is one of its main problems. I have no problem with proper "acoustic" music when it's done well, as in Mr Reality, Partland Bros., Faith & Desire etc but Challenge lack that special magic. A more sensible idea would have been to use a good mix of acoustic and electrics. People from Nelson to Heart to Jaime Kyle to Tom Cochrane etc have shown what the "acoustic rock" genre can do, and just to dismiss electrics totally is a mistake. Challenge's other (and more serious) problem is the material, which is mostly average, although "When Love Finds A Fool" is the notable exception and is very good. Within a less samey set it would have stood out even more. Technically the players are fine, singer Allison Lindsey sounds a little like Ann Wilson at times, but even so I don't get that sense of passion from her that less skilled vocalists can impart to a listener. As a result this is a lot less enthralling than it could otherwise have been.

Arival

Alannah MylesALANNAH MYLES
ARIVAL
ARK21 / VIRGIN 7243 8 23002 2 9
47%

Since her debut Alannah Myles' albums have been a bit patchy and to be honest "Arival" is no exception. Having said that though there is some great material here among the not so good. What holds the album together is Alannah's fine vocals, gutsy and powerful one minute (the rocking "Motherload" and "Bad 4 You"), sultry and sexy the next (the acoustic based "Dance Of Love"). These are the pick of the bunch, other tracks like "The Great Divide", "Why Have Angels Denied You", "Kisses Are Weapons" and "Honestly" are quite good but not Alannah at her best. Having said all that I have to say that the album has grown on me a hell of a lot since I first got it a few months ago, so I'm still willing to give Alannah a reserved thumbs up. When "Arival" is good it fully justifies its place in my collection - and that's good enough for me.

Now & Then Records

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Peter Sims
Last update 6th June 1998
Created 6th June 1998 © Peter Sims